Blogging the Bookshelf » Economics

One Nation – “The Unfinished Revolution: How New Labour Changed British Politics Forever” – Philip Gould

Tim — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:04:05 +0000

Blair said he wanted to base his conference speech around the concept of ‘one nation’. He had mentioned this as a theme in his leadership campaign notes, but I had forgotten. I did not like the idea much, nor did anyone else – it seemed too abstract – but he would not let go of it and as the conference speech came closer it became clear that this concept met the moment. It was centrist, and in origin it was a Conservative concept. Benjamin Disraeli first used the idea in his novel Sybil, or, The Two Nations: ‘Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy … THE RICH AND THE POOR.’ But the one-nation philosophy is as relevant now as it was in the 1840s. It articulated Blair’s concept of community in a new way, which it linked to a new patriotism.

Autarky might be hip, but it’s economically disastrous – “Reflections on Gandhi” from “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:51:05 +0000

I remember reading its opening chapters in the ill-printed pages of some Indian newspaper. They made a good impression on me, which Gandhi himself at that time did not. The things that one associated with him—home-spun cloth, “soul forces” and vegetarianism—were unappealing, and his medievalist program was obviously not viable in a backward, starving, over-populated country.

While most people remember Gandhi’s campaigns of peaceful non-violence in support of the independence of India, few remember that his economic program of anti-industrial autarky was a recipe for mass-deprivation and suffering. Admire his means, but not his message.

The Complex Moral Calculus of Politics from “Writers and Leviathan” in “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:01:05 +0000

We feel this dilemma to be a painful one, because we see the need of engaging in politics while also seeing what a dirty, degrading business it is. And most of us still have a lingering belief that every choice, even every political choice, is between good and evil, and that if a thing is necessary it is also right. We should, I think, get rid of this belief, which belongs to the nursery. In politics one can never do more than decide which of two evils is the lesser, and there are some situations from which one can only escape by acting like a devil or a lunatic.

+1000

The Inevitable Disappointment of Left Governments from “Writers and Leviathan” in “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:02:05 +0000

Left governments almost invariably disappoint their supporters because, even when the prosperity which they have promised is achievable, there is always need of an uncomfortable transition period about which little has been said beforehand.

The Misguided Perfectionism of The Left from “Writers and Leviathan” in “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:30:06 +0000

The whole left-wing ideology, scientific and Utopian, was evolved by people who had no immediate prospect of attaining power. It was, therefore, an extremist ideology, utterly contemptuous of kings, governments, laws, prisons, police forces, armies, flags, frontiers, patriotism, religion, conventional morality, and, in fact, the whole existing scheme of things. Until well within living memory the forces of the Left in all countries were fighting against a tyranny which appeared to be invincible, and it was easy to assume that if only THAT particular tyranny—capitalism—could be overthrown, Socialism would follow. Moreover, the Left had inherited from Liberalism certain distinctly questionable beliefs, such as the belief that the truth will prevail and persecution defeats itself, or that man is naturally good and is only corrupted by his environment. This perfectionist ideology has persisted in nearly all of us, and it is in the name of it that we protest when (for instance) a Labour government votes huge incomes to the King’s daughters or shows hesitation about nationalising steel. But we have also accumulated in our minds a whole series of unadmitted contradictions, as a result of successive bumps against reality.

Yeah, ‘successive bumps against reality’ is a good way of describing the evolution of progressive policy between 1940 and 1989…

“Prevention of Literature” from “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:31:05 +0000

Political writing in our time consists almost entirely of prefabricated phrases bolted together like the pieces of a child’s Meccano set. It is the unavoidable result of self-censorship. To write in plain, vigorous language one has to think fearlessly, and if one thinks fearlessly one cannot be politically orthodox.

The Futility of Searching for Perfection in Politics – “Arthur Koestler” from “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:20:00 +0000

Perhaps, however, whether desirable or not, it isn’t possible. Perhaps some degree of suffering is ineradicable from human life, perhaps the choice before man is always a choice of evils, perhaps even the aim of Socialism is not to make the world perfect but to make it better.

Orwell was a consistent advocate of incrementalism…

The Ugliness of Left Wing Women? – “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:50:06 +0000

Those who struggle against society are, on the whole, those who have reason to dislike it, and normal healthy people are no more attracted by violence and illegality than they are by war. The young Nazi in ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE makes the penetrating remark that one can see what is wrong with the left-wing movement by the ugliness of its women.

What Orwell Got Wrong – “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:32:06 +0000

What this war has demonstrated is that private capitalism that is, an economic system in which land, factories, mines and transport are owned privately and operated solely for profit—DOES NOT WORK. It cannot deliver the goods. This fact had been known to millions of people for years past, but nothing ever came of it, because there was no real urge from below to alter the system, and those at the top had trained themselves to be impenetrably stupid on just this point. Argument and propaganda got one nowhere. The lords of property simply sat on their bottoms and proclaimed that all was for the best. Hitler’s conquest of Europe, however, was a PHYSICAL debunking of capitalism. War, for all its evil, is at any rate an unanswerable test of strength, like a try-your-grip machine. Great strength returns the penny, and there is no way of faking the result.

One of the few things that Orwell got well and truly wrong.

The Mentality of the English Left Wing Intelligentsia – “The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius” from “Fifty Orwell Essays” – George Orwell

Tim — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:31:05 +0000

The mentality of the English left-wing intelligentsia can be studied in half a dozen weekly and monthly papers. The immediately striking thing about all these papers is their generally negative, querulous attitude, their complete lack at all times of any constructive suggestion. There is little in them except the irresponsible carping of people who have never been and never expect to be in a position of power.

Another marked characteristic is the emotional shallowness of people who live in a world of ideas and have little contact with physical reality. Many intellectuals of the Left were flabbily pacifist up to 1935, shrieked for war against Germany in the years 1935-9, and then promptly cooled off when the war started. It is broadly though not precisely true that the people who were most ‘anti-Fascist’ during the Spanish Civil War are most defeatist now.

Probably my favourite Orwell quote.